Herpes simplex viruses (HSVs) are a main cause of genital ulcers worldwide, (see, the world wide web at the hypertext protocol transfer address of “who.int/bulletin/volumes/86/10/07-046128/en/index”). Of the 2 types of HSV, type 2 (HSV-2) is a more common cause of genital herpes and one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases with nearly 500 million people affected worldwide. Evidence of infection, by serologic studies, is present in 1 out of every 6 people aged 14 to 49 in the United States (see, the world wide web at the hypertext protocol transfer address of “niaid.nih.gov/topics/genitalherpes/Pages/default”; Centers for Disease Control, MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. (2010) 59:456-9). Women are more commonly infected than men, with 1 out of every 5 women in the US having evidence of infection. Certain groups, such as people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and commercial sex workers, have high rates of infection ranging from 60% to 95%, (Kimberlin & Rouse, New Engl J Med. (2004) 350:1970-7; Gupta et al., Lancet. (2007) 370:2127-37).
To date, there are no known curative treatments or approved therapeutic vaccines for HSV-2 infection. Current therapy is directed at reducing the duration of primary disease or reducing the duration or frequency of secondary outbreaks. Accordingly, there remains a need for effective therapies to treat HSV-2 infection.